Interview: Ken Ono, math professor on his search for Ramanujan

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Ken Ono served as the mathematical consultant for the 2015 film (just out on DVD and Netflix), “The Man Who Knew Infinity.” In the film Dev Patel plays Indian math genius Srinivasa Ramanujan whose work so impressed Cambridge don H.D. Hardy, played by Jeremy Irons, that Hardy invited him to come to Britain to study with him. What fascinated Hardy has been a source of inspiration and bewilderment to mathematicians every since. How could a young man from colonial India who never had the opportunity to formally study high math have possibly come up with the theorems that Ramanujan postulated. Ono, who studies Ramanujan’s notebooks was uniquely qualified to act as the film’s math adviser. He admires the film’s director, Matt Brown, and its stars for wanting to understand the math behind the story they portrayed.